This book was a story about a junior high African American girl, Maleeka, living and going to school in a low income area of the city. The book depicts how she must learn how to accept herself for who she is and how a new English teacher who comes to her school plays a role in her acceptance of herself. Maleeka, because her skin color is darker than most of her other African American peers is ridiculed and teased. Maleeka’s mother is very poor and Maleeka is often embarrassed about her clothes. She begins to hang around with a very mean spirited rough girl, Charlese, who brings Maleeka nice clothes to wear so long as Maleeka does Charlese’s homework and everything and anything Charlese tells her to do – often times humiliating Maleeka. Throughout the story, Maleeka cannot stand up to Charlese or another boy John-John who continue to ridicule her daily. The turning point comes in Maleeka’s life because of two events. One day, Charlese threatens Maleeka to set fire to the new English teacher’s room whom Maleeka had grown to like and then Charlese takes off leaving Maleeka to get caught and blamed for the crime. Maleeka struggles with great inner turmoil over the incident and Charlese continues to threaten Maleeka that she will “get her” if Maleeka ever tells that Charlese was responsible for the fire and destruction of the English teacher’s room. Shortly after this event, Maleeka becomes witness to John-John getting beat severely by 3 older boys and Maleeka, rather than stand back and watch, decides to defend him and the 3 boys begin to attack her instead. Through these events and the help of the English teacher, Maleeka finally stands up to Charlese and tells the English teacher of Charlese’s involvement in the fire. A stronger Maleeka begins to accept who she is and gains a new friend as well, John-John.
What diverse group or groups is being depicted?
African American low income, inner city junior high school students are being depicted.
How did reading or viewing your text change your perception of students who might be in your classroom?
The book gave me a greater sense of the struggles of people living in poverty neighborhoods and going to schools where bullying is predominant. It also showed me how difficult the home life can be for some of these children. Just like Maleeka, these children face many obstacles to learning such as peer pressure, tough family situations, bullying, neighborhood crime, and a sense of defeat that they may never be able to get out of their situation in life. Maleeka faced all these struggles throughout the storyline and developed an attitude of defeat and inability to rise above her circumstances with Charlese, the teasing, her mom's poverty, the crime in her neighborhood, her lack of motivation in school, and peer pressure.
How did reading or viewing your text enhance your cultural awareness of the students you will serve?
I better understand the low income culture where threat and fear dominates much of these students’ lives and the sense of entrapment they feel with their environment. Often times it’s difficult to rise above this environment with so many obstacles facing the students with home, school, and an unsafe neighborhood. I will attempt to provide a safe, nurturing classroom where students do not feel threatened and are encouraged to learn and grow to their highest potential. The English teacher in this story did not tolerate ridicule of students in her classroom. She also knew the academic potential of Maleeka and the other students in her class and did not give them an "easy academic out", but challenged them to meet their potential.
What new insights do you have now?
I now understand the critical importance of having a safe classroom where students feel a great sense of community with each other and the freedom to be themselves without ridicule or threat. It is crucial that students value one another in my classroom as I can only provide support to them for one school term, whereas if these children can gain support among their peers, they now have a community of support within their own neighborhood to help each other through rough circumstances. Perhaps, with a good sense of community in Maleeka's neighborhood, bystanders watching John-John being beaten would have taken action to help.
Was this text relevant to your teaching practice and/or the classroom community?
Yes, this book, although fiction, depicted what could have been a real-life scenario for a middle school, poor, African American student. It gives a firsthand point-of-view from the middle schooler’s perspective that is both valuable to me as a teacher and also to the students in my classroom.
Do you recommend this text to others? Why or why not?
Yes, I recommend this text to others so they can gain the perspective of a middle school girl growing up in poverty. I think the book gives a clear picture of the struggles, dangers, and peer pressure faced by many teens today. To directly contact the author of this book Sharon Flake go tohttp://www.sharongflake.com/2sayhello/. She will be glad to support and answer your questions. She was a house parent for youth and worked in a foster care program which gave her a first-hand glimpse into the world of young people's lives.
Would you use this book with your students?
Yes, but I would not recommend this book from anyone younger than 7th grade, and even then I would want to provide rich discussion for students as they read the book, as some of the situations in the book may be tough to deal with without adult support to help the students reason through the issues. A good website with rich discussion topics for the book can be found at http://www.adl.org/education/curriculum_connections/winter_2005/The_Skin.asp
Some of the book was rather “course” in wording, and some of the events in the book were too mature for elementary aged students.
- Write a short description of the book
This book was a story about a junior high African American girl, Maleeka, living and going to school in a low income area of the city. The book depicts how she must learn how to accept herself for who she is and how a new English teacher who comes to her school plays a role in her acceptance of herself. Maleeka, because her skin color is darker than most of her other African American peers is ridiculed and teased. Maleeka’s mother is very poor and Maleeka is often embarrassed about her clothes. She begins to hang around with a very mean spirited rough girl, Charlese, who brings Maleeka nice clothes to wear so long as Maleeka does Charlese’s homework and everything and anything Charlese tells her to do – often times humiliating Maleeka. Throughout the story, Maleeka cannot stand up to Charlese or another boy John-John who continue to ridicule her daily. The turning point comes in Maleeka’s life because of two events. One day, Charlese threatens Maleeka to set fire to the new English teacher’s room whom Maleeka had grown to like and then Charlese takes off leaving Maleeka to get caught and blamed for the crime. Maleeka struggles with great inner turmoil over the incident and Charlese continues to threaten Maleeka that she will “get her” if Maleeka ever tells that Charlese was responsible for the fire and destruction of the English teacher’s room. Shortly after this event, Maleeka becomes witness to John-John getting beat severely by 3 older boys and Maleeka, rather than stand back and watch, decides to defend him and the 3 boys begin to attack her instead. Through these events and the help of the English teacher, Maleeka finally stands up to Charlese and tells the English teacher of Charlese’s involvement in the fire. A stronger Maleeka begins to accept who she is and gains a new friend as well, John-John.- What diverse group or groups is being depicted?
African American low income, inner city junior high school students are being depicted.- How did reading or viewing your text change your perception of students who might be in your classroom?
The book gave me a greater sense of the struggles of people living in poverty neighborhoods and going to schools where bullying is predominant. It also showed me how difficult the home life can be for some of these children. Just like Maleeka, these children face many obstacles to learning such as peer pressure, tough family situations, bullying, neighborhood crime, and a sense of defeat that they may never be able to get out of their situation in life. Maleeka faced all these struggles throughout the storyline and developed an attitude of defeat and inability to rise above her circumstances with Charlese, the teasing, her mom's poverty, the crime in her neighborhood, her lack of motivation in school, and peer pressure.- How did reading or viewing your text enhance your cultural awareness of the students you will serve?
I better understand the low income culture where threat and fear dominates much of these students’ lives and the sense of entrapment they feel with their environment. Often times it’s difficult to rise above this environment with so many obstacles facing the students with home, school, and an unsafe neighborhood. I will attempt to provide a safe, nurturing classroom where students do not feel threatened and are encouraged to learn and grow to their highest potential. The English teacher in this story did not tolerate ridicule of students in her classroom. She also knew the academic potential of Maleeka and the other students in her class and did not give them an "easy academic out", but challenged them to meet their potential.- What new insights do you have now?
I now understand the critical importance of having a safe classroom where students feel a great sense of community with each other and the freedom to be themselves without ridicule or threat. It is crucial that students value one another in my classroom as I can only provide support to them for one school term, whereas if these children can gain support among their peers, they now have a community of support within their own neighborhood to help each other through rough circumstances. Perhaps, with a good sense of community in Maleeka's neighborhood, bystanders watching John-John being beaten would have taken action to help.- Was this text relevant to your teaching practice and/or the classroom community?
Yes, this book, although fiction, depicted what could have been a real-life scenario for a middle school, poor, African American student. It gives a firsthand point-of-view from the middle schooler’s perspective that is both valuable to me as a teacher and also to the students in my classroom.- Do you recommend this text to others? Why or why not?
Yes, I recommend this text to others so they can gain the perspective of a middle school girl growing up in poverty. I think the book gives a clear picture of the struggles, dangers, and peer pressure faced by many teens today. To directly contact the author of this book Sharon Flake go to http://www.sharongflake.com/2sayhello/. She will be glad to support and answer your questions. She was a house parent for youth and worked in a foster care program which gave her a first-hand glimpse into the world of young people's lives.- Would you use this book with your students?
Yes, but I would not recommend this book from anyone younger than 7th grade, and even then I would want to provide rich discussion for students as they read the book, as some of the situations in the book may be tough to deal with without adult support to help the students reason through the issues. A good website with rich discussion topics for the book can be found at http://www.adl.org/education/curriculum_connections/winter_2005/The_Skin.aspSome of the book was rather “course” in wording, and some of the events in the book were too mature for elementary aged students.
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